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The article presents and analyses the relation between the chitalishta and the municipalities on the basis of the municipal programs for the development of the activities of this specific institution. The data used is able to demonstrate the resources of the chitalishta, the rich variety of the activities accomplished there, as well as to make more concrete the appeals for support, to show the attitude of the municipalities as cultural institutions participating in the realization of public policies. Having in mind the importance of the chitalishte institution for the safeguarding of the intangible cultural heritage, the content of the programs is analysed from the point of view of the activities and measures for the safeguarding of this kind of cultural heritage.
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The paper analyses that vocabulary of certain medieval Bulgarian written monuments which is related to mythological notions and religious believes of the pagan antiquity. It is part of a series of studies on specific lexical-semantic groups of words in the history of the Bulgarian language, both united and differentiated on the basis of their subject-logical links in relation to reality, which have been done with a view to collect material for the Thematic Dictionary of the Medieval Bulgarian Language. Analysis is based on language data of the earliest written monuments – of the 10th to 14th centuries – which are reflected in the Palaeoslavonic lexicographic editions. The following thematic units are studied: names of pagan religious buildings and facilities, terms of pagan religious practices, names of persons involved in pagan practices, sacred words and names of mythical characters. The study reveals the existence of a large and detailed thematic union covering numerous word items related to pagan culture.
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Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of pa¬rishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially pres¬tigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names.Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of parishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially prestigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names.Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of parishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially prestigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names. Folk Orthodox Christianity in Bulgaria is a product of Bulgarian Orthodox mentality: this is the canonical knowledge that partially alters its form in time under the pressure of extreme external factors but retains its core relatively unchanged. It has indirect expression in all folk forms while the direct one is in the Christian prayer, rituals, and different beliefs. An interesting manifestation of folk Orthodoxy in the Orthodox temples of the town of Samokov is the practice that could hardly be defined as “canonical” or “non-canonical”: in the chairs, which are also called the thrones in the churches, are placed paper plates with names of parishioners. These are people who paid a certain amount of money to the temple so that the church board put their names and they could use these chairs during the liturgy: they stayed each in front of his/her chair and sit down when it was allowed to sit. It was considered to be especially prestigious to have a throne (chair) in the temple and the deprivation of this privilege was regarded as a major insult. As a rule, people who took care of the church, donated money and worked as volunteers had such chairs/ thrones. Name plates are always present in the temple space, so the person symbolically “always attends” the temple and liturgy. The beginning of this practice can be placed after the end of the fifteenth century when bishop thrones were placed in the Orthodox churches. Its ubiquitous dissemination dates back to the second half of the 18th century. The peak was in the 19th century, when after the age of the Tanzimat (1839) began the intensive construction of orthodox churches in the Bulgarian lands. It should be borne in mind that the name plates on the chairs in the churches could play their role only when the literacy among the Bulgarians became widespread in the first half of the 19th century and there was a public that could read the names.
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This article analyses the process of choosing different strategies of identification by Bulgarians in Ukraine. The present state of ‘identification processes’ against the background of ‘war of memory’ and ‘invented traditions’ places them among the priority problems of science and politics. The subject of analysis is the specifics of the formation of collective memory, which is at the root of the choice of identification strategy: commemorative practices, mechanisms for the memorialization of the past, the correlation between the local history of the group and the national strategies of Bulgaria and Ukraine. The conclusion is that the choice of identification behaviour is influenced by the efficiency of social adaptation under specific historical circumstances. The social resources at the disposal of the group in any particular moment influence the choice of vectors of collective memory and predetermine the formation of defensive practices aimed at preserving the group.
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The objective of this article is to outline in the light of the relations between the nation-state and the various religious organizations and individuals the main tensions in the contemporary Bulgarian society concerning the intertwining of religion and secularism. The general goal is to combine the presentation of national historical context, existing legislation and the current social debate based on fieldwork.
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This text is based on an ethnographic study on the protests and civic initiatives that initially took place in 2013 but then continued with varying intensity throughout the following years. While applying the method of participant observation during the Gazi events’ and conducting interviews with individuals who had taken part in the protests, a main goal of this study is to grasp the transformation in the identification, articulation and presentation of important and secondary topics and problems that had been brought forward throughout the public discussions. The initial motivation of this study is the idea that after the first demonstrations and clashes, the interpretation of the political projects’ turbulence, of the reinvention of urban spaces, of the success or failure of diverse protest and resistance practices, gradually modifies the way the aforementioned events and ongoing processes are being thought and talked about. The research questions the respondents’ participation in protests, the constitution and disintegration of communities, the ‘diagnosis’, ‘prognosis’ and ‘rationale’ elements in respondents’ and informants’ micro-discourses and their acts in relation to diverse initiatives. The text attempts to systematize the observation data and the collected ‘narrative fragments’ within four ‘modes of articulation’: transformative, subjective, argumentative, and topological.
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From the beginning of the 21st century and especially in its second decade, a lot of folklore festivals, sabors, singing and music making competitions, fairs, exhibitions and feasts have been created and organized. In almost every town or village (predominantly these are towns) the events take place once a year – a fact which suggests that they are in a way substitutes of the local fairs from the past. In all these cases there is folk music – either processed or unprocessed. Its role and significance determine to a great extent the type, the format and the level of the particular event.The article reveals different phenomena, certifying for the influence of the music performed on the festival where it is performed – played by professionals or by amateurs, having a main or an accompanying role, used or not with different functions and with different cultural aims.
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The article presents Voditsi rite in the village of Dobarsko (Razlog Municipality, Blagoevgrad Region) and the ritual song repertoire, characterized by its antique musical thinking, melody and rhythmic specifics. The scholarly focus is centered on the processes of development of the traditional rites in the local culture. The diachronic point of view to the rite reveals the dynamics in the course of time as far as from the second half of the 1950s to the middle of the 1980s Voditsi rite performed in Dobarsko by young virgins has stopped to exist. After that the rite is reconstructed, but mainly as a performance on the scene. Today the rite is an important element of the cultural heritage of the village and functions as a sign of local identity.
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The marital partners in mixed families engage in a form of cultural transition as a result of negotiating the differences between them. This leads to the development of a new cultural model which is influenced by or even combines both partners’heritages. An important aspect of this intercultural interaction is the festivities, more particularly the manner of their functioning, especially within bi-religious families. Hence, the festive events appear to form an essential and very visible part of each partner's own cultural heritage, which the couple more or less incorporate into their mixed family’s life. This article focuses on several ethnocultural (including religious), as well as social aspects of the festivities of couples composed by Bulgarians and foreigners of the Middle East and North African countries. The text considers the place of the festivities in the lifestyle of the partners and their children, as well as the agents’attitudes, personal motivations and involvement in certain activities.
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This paper draws on the author’s ethnographic research with 11 – 15 years old adolescents conducted in a “prioriy” middle school in Normandy, France (2014 – 2017) and aims to explore these immigrant students’ experiences of acculturation, sociocultural adaptation and identity formation. In particular, I present the case study of a Moroccan boy in an attempt to uncover more profound aspects of these phenomena. I use the theoretical framework of Berry et al. (2006) regarding strategies for acculturation and identity processes in adolescence in order to analyse data gathered through ethnographic methods. Then, I illustrate how methodological pluralism can produce a nuanced picture and allow for alternative interpretations. In addition, followingPollock and Van Reken’s example of a third-culture kid, I use the concept of a third culture adolescent (Pollock and Van Reken 1999) to demonstrate how a migrant student with a diffuse profile, that defines him as marginal and confused, viewed through an ethnographic lens, can be thought of as someone creating “third culture”.
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In historical ethnology, women’s servants is a social phenomenon related to the so-called “West European” family model characterized by late matrimony. In Bulgaria, under the influence of socio-economic factors in the country and the modernization of the Bulgarian society in the first half of 20th century, the servantship developed and became very popular in the decades after World War I. In the next decades, it underwent numerous changes which led to slow but steady turn in the understanding of it. The study of its development and the outlining of the different stages with their age and gender characteristics allow us to trace the changes in the Bulgarian society in the previous century. It is also important to outline the regional characteristics which show important specifics of the existence and development of women’s servantship. Because of its strong influence over the life of different social groups in the society and its transformation into a vehicle of cultural exchange between them, the servantship could be defined also as a social mediator. It creates a peculiar bridge between the village and the city and facilitates the penetration of the new West European culture and urban patterns in the small local village community. The changes in the attitudes towards servantship as well as its popularity give us important information about the society as a whole and allow tracing the changes in the matrimonial models. The article is dedicated to the labour mobility of the young girls from the Tuzlukregion (Municipality of Antonovo, District of Targovishte) which expands in the course of time and to their hiring as housemaids mainly in the capital of Sofia. The study is based on the narratives of local people gathered during two short fieldworkresearches in the Municipality of Antonovo.
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This article aims to provide unknown information about the traditional culture of the Tatars from Northeastern Bulgaria. This ethnic community today is experiencing a process of active linguistic and cultural assimilation. The text analyses the two main cases. The first illustrates the role of the science and the work of researchers as an important tool against forgetting. The second provides the so-called аutosanction. In this example it means suppression and destruction of relics, which are valuable ethno-cultural characteristics of the community. The observations are the result of the analysis of publications in Hungarian ethnographic editions, of fieldwork in the region of Dobrich (Dobrich, Onogur, Yovkovo) and of archival work.
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The study in Oryahovo is a contribution to the modern anthropological study of local cultures, communities and heritage along the Danube River. It aims to describe the cultural geography of the place, as well as the specifics of local fishing, the names of species of nets and gear, the names of boats, species of fish, the daily life of fishermen and the forms of celebration. The methodology of the historical-anthropological approach and the biographical approach is used. The authentic texts that are published are grouped in four parts – Everyday life, Environment, Fishing, Holidays. They create a collective biography, represented by the many voices of ordinary local fishermen. Fishermen's knowledge of the world around them is complex – their stories include swamps in Romania, the numerous islands on the Danube and the nuclear power plant, as well as specific places where the riverbed is clear and the nets do not get caught to rupture. Turning an individual into a fisherman is a way of life. And it is precisely the differences in this living – with devotion to the river and the local ecosystem, that make the fishermen of Oryahovo different from everyone else. We have registered many of their worldview, acquired habits, traditional practices and skills, oral knowledge – the amalgam which we define as cultural heritage. But for local fishermen, this knowledge has not yet been valorized.
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Przedmiotem artykułu są relacje między stylem językowym a pamięcią zbiorową. Styl,ujmowany semiotycznie i antropologicznie, stanowi jedną z form pamięci zbiorowej, obok typutekstu kultury, odmiany, a także gatunku tekstu. Styl jest wyrazem, świadectwem przeszłości.Ze stylu indywidualnego, np. uznanych pisarzy, odczytać można ich obraz rzeczywistości, wtym także przeszłości. Styl jest więc nośnikiem zarówno pamięci indywidualnej danego pisarza,jak też świadectwem przeszłości, w której żył i tworzył. Style typowe stanowią lustroodzwierciedlające właściwe dla danej epoki konwencje wyrażania. Styl przechowuje więcobraz przeszłości, indywidualnej i zbiorowej, jest środkiem dotarcia do niej oraz sposobemwyrażania przeszłości oraz mówienia o przeszłości i jej niewerbalnych nośnikachwspółcześnie. Styl funkcjonalny ukazano więc jako praktykę oraz formę pamięci zbiorowej:komunikatywnej lub kulturowej. Styl potoczny stanowi praktykę wcielania, podczas gdypozostałe style funkcjonalne są praktykami zapisu. Pamięć komunikatywna przekazywana jestprzez środki i wartości typowe dla stylu potocznego, pamięć kulturowa związana jestpraktycznie ze wszystkimi stylami funkcjonalnymi, w zależności od treści pamięci. // The subject of the article are relations between a language style and collective memory. Thestyle, semiotically and anthropologically presented, is one of the forms of collective memoryalong with a type of culture text, variety and text genre as well. On the one hand, the style isan expression, evidence of the past. From an individual style of e.g. recognized writers one caninterpret their image of reality, including also the past. Thus the style is a means of conveyingboth individual memory of a particular author and evidence of the past he used to live in andcreate. Typical styles are the mirrors reflecting conventions of expression appropriate for agiven period. Thus, the style stores the image of the past, individual and collective, and is ameans of reaching it, a way of expressing and talking about it, including its contemporary nonverbal means. Thus, a functional style has been presented as practice and the form ofcollective memory: communicative or cultural. A colloquial style is the practice ofincorporating, whereas other functional styles are practices of recording. Communicativememory is conveyed by means and values typical for the colloquial style, while cultural memoryis practically associated with all functional styles, depending on the contents of memory.
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